Cardiac valve disorders can be serious and in fact are often fatal. Treatment may require replacement of the valve with a prosthetic valve—mechanical or bioprosthetic. Bioprosthetic valves typically include a leaflet portion and a vascular conduit portion, both generally of a biological material, and possibly a stent.
While bioprosthetic valves have a number of advantages over mechanical valves, including a lower risk of complications resulting from thrombus formation, they are associated with a higher risk of mineralization. This increased risk significantly limits the durability of the replacement valve. The present invention provides a method of rendering tissues, including heart valves, resistant to mineralization while preserving biomechanical properties of the tissue. The present invention also provides a method of reducing immunoreactivity of transplanted tissues which are not fixed by chemical or physical means, or combinations thereof, prior to implantation.